Automated system for issuing and managing offence tickets

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns a system for issuing and managing offence tickets comprising a portable input device provided to the policeman for recording therein data concerning the contravening vehicle, a ticket medium to be issued to the vehicle owner and adapted to be inserted in the input device for recording therein input data from the input device, and an accession device provided with a display screen and means for inserting the tickets medium to enable the vehicle owner to access data concerning the offence displayed on the screen. The ticket medium consists of an unalterable tamper-resistant smart card and clipping means enabling the policeman to clip the card on the wiper arm, such that the card is not damaged by rain and cannot be easily removed after it has been clipped.

This application is a U.S. national stage of International ApplicationPCT/FR98/02509 filed Nov. 24, 1998.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention concerns the establishment and the payment ofoffence tickets issued by policemen in charge of ticketing vehiclesparked illegally on public thoroughfares or guilty of other trafficoffences, and relates particularly to an automated system for issuingand managing these offence tickets.

BACKGROUND ART

Currently, in France, the ticketing of vehicles on public thoroughfaresby a police officer or traffic warden is carried out by manually fillingin the date, time and parking location, as well as vehicle-relatedinformation such as the license number, make, etc. Once completed, theticket is placed under the vehicle's windshield wiper. When inpossession of this document, the owner of the ticketed vehicle pays thefine by buying a fine stamp in a tobacconist's shop. The stamp is thenpasted on the ticket and sent to the Public Treasury.

Actually, this system presents several disadvantages. Specifically, thepolice officer who issued the ticket is faced with a tedious andtime-consuming task as he must fill in, by hand and in duplicate, all ofthe information on the ticket and in the ticket book. This takes aconsiderable amount of time and is not particularly efficient.Furthermore, the administrative processing of the tickets is verydifficult to manage.

Another major disadvantage stems from the fact that the ticket is placedunder the vehicle's windshield wiper. If it rains once the ticket isplaced on the vehicle's windshield, it becomes wet or even soaked,difficult to handle and often altered, making it unusable for thepayment operation. In addition, as the tickets are simply placed underthe windshield wiper, they are sometimes removed as a joke or removed bydishonest motorists who place the ticket under the windshield wiper oftheir own vehicle in an attempt to avoid having a police officer place aticket on it thinking that the vehicle has already been ticketed. Insuch cases, the ticketed motorist is not aware that he/she received aticket and will thus have to pay a higher fine when claimed at a laterdate, thereby increasing the already high volume of disputed tickets.

An offence ticket processing system described in patent applicationFR-A-2.665.779 enables a certain number of the above-mentioneddisadvantages to be solved. This system consists of a portableself-contained terminal featuring an alphanumeric keyboard, a screen anda printer capable of printing a barcode on the traffic ticket entered bythe police officer using the keyboard. A microcomputer in the policestation is connected to the portable terminals via a connecting cablefor the purpose of collecting and processing the information gathered bythe police officer. A payment terminal, also located in the policestation, features a ticket reader enabling the vehicle owner to payhis/her fine.

Unfortunately, insofar as the system described in documentFR-A-2.665.779 still uses tickets made of paper or other alterablematerial, the disadvantage of having the ticket ruined by rain stillexists, particularly as the alteration of one or more bars of thebarcode is all that would be necessary to make it unusable in case ofrain.

In the same manner, this type of ticket can still be easily removed fromthe ticketed vehicle and placed on another vehicle. Another disadvantageinherent to this type of system is due to the use of a printer which iseither bulky and heavy or miniaturized and thus not very reliable. Inall cases, the printer is liable to breakdown as it operates in anenvironment subjected to inclement weather. Finally, the barcodes can beeasily falsified by an offender who wants to add or remove bars, thusmaking way to unacceptable forging possibilities in this sensitiveapplication field, the implementation of which must be based on totalsecurity and reliability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This is why an object of the invention is to provide a system forissuing and managing offence tickets which uses an unalterabletamper-resistant smart card type electronic support for recording theoffence ticket data.

Another object of the invention is to provide a system for issuing andmanaging offence tickets using a support which can be clipped onto theviolating vehicle's windshield wiper so as to discourage anyone otherthan the vehicle owner from removing said support.

The invention is thus a system for issuing and managing offence ticketscomprising a portable input device provided to the police officer incharge of ticketing a contravening vehicle for recording therein dataconcerning the vehicle, a ticket medium to be issued to the vehicleowner and adapted to be inserted in the input device for recordingtherein input data relative to the vehicle, entered by the policeofficer using the portable input device, and a viewing device providedwith a display screen and means for inserting the ticket medium toenable the vehicle owner to access data concerning the offence displayedon the screen. The ticket medium consists of an unalterabletamper-resistant smart card in which the information entered by thepolice officer is recorded and clipping means enabling the policeofficer to clip the card on the wiper arm, such that the card is notdamaged by rain and cannot be easily removed after it has been clipped.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The purposes, objects and features of the invention will become moreapparent from the following detailed description with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram which schematically represents all of theelements of the system for issuing and managing offence ticketsaccording to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a flow chart representing the operations to be performed inthe system according to the invention, as shown in FIG. 1,

FIGS. 3A and 3B represent an initial embodiment of the electronic ticketcard used in the system according to the invention,

FIGS. 4A and 4B represent a second embodiment of the electronic ticketcard used in the system according to the invention and,

FIGS. 5A and 5B represent a third embodiment of the electronic ticketcard used in the system according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As depicted diagrammatically in FIG. 1, the police officer (or trafficwarden) 10 is equipped with an input device 12 enabling him/her to issuea contravening vehicle 16 a ticket card 14 which is a clippableelectronic card of smart card type, this unalterable tamper-resistantcard comprising the essential element of the system for issuing andmanaging offence tickets according to the invention. The input device 12is in the form of a small hand-held unit, for example 20 cm long, 10 cmwide and 3 cm thick. It is equipped with a hermetic alphanumerickeyboard, a screen with two lines having 16 characters each, a card onwhich the electronic components are mounted, a rechargeable battery, adate/time stamping function and a smart card reader/recorder for thecard type 14. It enables complex security algorithms to be computed incomplementarity with those of the card 14, and correspondingcertificates to be written.

The offense ticket medium 14 is a plastic smart card which is renderedunalterable and tamper-resistant by the use of complex algorithms andthe storage of information in tamperproof zones, in which it is possibleto record or read data. Preferably, the card is disposable,non-reusable, fully protected, especially from being copied. Providingthese features is the only means of ensuring totally secure dataprocessing.

The operation of the system according to the invention illustrated inFIG. 1 is depicted by the flow diagram represented in FIG. 2. Firstly,the data is entered (30) by the police officer or traffic warden whoinputs the information by means of the keyboard of the portable inputdevice 12. This information includes the vehicle type, make, the licensenumber, the date, time, the type and nature of the offence, the fine,his/her identification number and the offence ticket number.

This information is then recorded (32) on the card 14 which the policeofficer inserts into the reader of the input device 12. Once therecording operation is completed, he/she removes the card from theportable input device 12 and clips it on the windshield wiper of thecontravening vehicle (34) by a clipping means as described below.

At the end of his/her duty period, the police officer or the trafficwarden returns to the police station where he/she connects (36) his/herportable input device 12 to a data acquisition terminal 20 which couldbe a simple docking station where the connection is established when theinput device is placed on it. When the connection is established, thedata entered by the police officer at the time of entering theinformation relative to the offence tickets is automatically transmitted(38) to a collection center where it is stored in a follow-up file for acertain period of time (preferably 3 or 4 days). Access to thisfollow-up file is only authorized to duly empowered individuals, such aspolice commissioners for example. In this manner, a police commissionermay be lenient on an offender and remove the offence from the follow-upfile during this storage period.

Once the storage period in the follow-up file has terminated, theinformation is automatically transmitted (40) to a processing unit 24.It should be noted that several processing units may exist.

Upon returning to the vehicle, the vehicle owner recovers the card 14 byunclipping it from the windshield wiper and consults it (42) by means ofa viewing device 18 which may be located in a tobacconist's shop or in atax office. Such a device includes a display screen on which all of theinformation concerning the offence is displayed as soon as the ticketcard is inserted into the slot provided for this purpose. It should benoted that the viewing devices may also be consultation terminalsinstalled in strategic locations such as service stations, supermarkets,parking lots, etc.

A viewing device 18 may also be used to allow the offender, or any otherperson in possession of the ticket card, to pay the fine. In the casewhere this payment may be made (44), the person responsible forcollecting the payment at the tobacconist's shop or tax office records(46) this payment in the viewing (and payment) device 18 and a receiptis issued to the person making the payment. It should be noted that ifthe viewing device is a payment terminal, payment can only be made bybank card. In the case where the viewing device does not also serve as apayment terminal, payment may be made by either purchasing a fine stampwhich is pasted on the ticket card before being sent (48) by mail to thecollection center, or by sending a check and the offence ticket or anyother appropriate means of payment.

The fines collected with a viewing (and payment) device 18 arepreferably transmitted to the collection center at night when the placeof payment is closed. In this last case, each payment, whether made byone of the viewing and payment devices or by sending the ticket cardwith its fine stamp or check, removes the offence from the follow-upfile 22 if payment is made during the storage period, or is transferredto the processing unit 24 concerned at the end of this period. Inaddition to receiving fine payments, it should be noted that the role ofthe processing unit 24 is to send out reminders and apply late fees forpayment delays and to handle information requests and appeals.

In order to prevent it from being removed too easily from the windshieldof the contravening vehicle, the ticket card is equipped with a clippingmeans described below.

According to an initial embodiment, which is not restrictive,illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the ticket card 14 includes an opening50 having a slot 52 continuing down its side. A special cut-out 54 ismade at the outside end of this slot on the edge of the card.

The card is clipped by pressing the special cut-out 54 against the wiperarm 55. The cut-out makes separating the slot 52 easier and facilitatesthe installation by pivoting the card on the wiper arm until the arm isfully within the orifice 50. The type of material used to make thesecards enables its deformation characteristics to be used in attaching itto the wiper arm 55. The stiffness of the material provides efficientmeans of clipping the card onto the wiper arm.

According to a second embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 4A and 4B, thecard 14 is prolonged by a tab 56. An opening 58 and a slot 60 are cut inthis card. A frangible zone 62 is created on the tab through aperforated line 64 having special notches 66 at each end enabling thetab portion 56 to be separated from the rest of the card when a certainamount of force is applied. The end of tab features a roundedpenetration head 68 preceded by two flat sections 70 used to block thetab. The head 68 is larger that the diameter of the orifice 58. Thewidth of the tab in front of the blocking flat sections 70 is slightlyless than the diameter of the orifice 58.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the rounded head 68 has returned to the same planeas the rest of the card. The respective dimensions of each componentpart of the assembly enabled this operation. The head was only able toenter the orifice 58 owing to the slot 60. The assembly is locked inplace by the two flat sections 70. In this manner, as the tab 56 hasbeen previously placed around the wiper arm 55, the assembly becomessolidly attached to the latter. To remove the ticket card from the arm55, one simply has to pull on the card. The two special notches directthe traction force toward the perforations 64 causing the tab 56 to tearand separate from the rest of the card and thus preventing its futurereuse. According to a third embodiment illustrated by FIGS. 5A and 5B,the card 14 includes a downward-pointing V-shaped slot 72, therebycreating a flap 74 which is slightly mobile owing to the card's plasticmaterial. This card is prolonged by a tab 76. It is terminated by avariable-shaped head 78, either rounded or pointed, and equipped withtwo blocking flat sections 80. As described in the previous case, afrangible zone 82 is created. The card is attached by inserting the head78 underneath the mobile flap 74 owing to the special downward-pointingV-shaped slot 72 which enables this maneuver. Locking takes placeautomatically by pulling on the tab 76. The tab is separated from therest of the card at the frangible zone 82 which includes the meanspreventing the card from being reused consisting of notches 84 andperforations 86.

1. A system for issuing and managing offence tickets comprising: anelectronic portable input device provided to a police officer in chargeof ticketing a contravening vehicle for recording therein dataconcerning said vehicle, a ticket medium to be issued to the owner ofsaid vehicle and adapted to be inserted in said input device forrecording therein input data from said input device by the policeofficer, and an electronic viewing device provided with a display screenand means for inserting the ticket medium in said viewing device toenable the vehicle owner to access data concerning the offence displayedon said screen; wherein said ticket medium comprises an unalterabletamper-resistant electronic smart card in which the information enteredby the police officer are recorded and clipping means enabling thepolice officer to clip the card on the wiper arm, such that said card isnot damaged by rain and cannot be easily removed after it has beenclipped.
 2. A system according to claim 1 in which said viewing deviceis at the same time a payment device enabling the vehicle owner to paythe fine, the information relative to which were recorded in the ticketcard.
 3. A system according to claim 2, further including a dataacquisition terminal to which said portable input device is connected inorder to transfer into said acquisition terminal the informationrelative to the offences previously recorded in said input device.
 4. Asystem according to claim 3, further including a collection centerconnected directly to said data acquisition terminal and having afollow-up file designed to record the information transmitted by saiddata acquisition terminal during a predetermined time prior toprocessing.
 5. A system according to claim 4, in which the payments ofsaid offence tickets made with said viewing device are transmitted tosaid follow-up file located in said collection center.
 6. A systemaccording to claim 5, further including a processing unit connected tosaid collection center and designed to process the offence tickets, theinformation of which was transferred to it by said collection center. 7.A system according to claim 1 in which the clipping means of the ticketmedium comprise an opening prolonged by a slot terminated on the edge ofthe card by a special notch enabling the wiper arm to be inserted intothe slot until it penetrates said opening.
 8. A system according toclaim 1, in which said clipping means of the ticket medium comprise atab with a rounded head at its end and an opening and a slot enablingthe introduction of said rounded head in said opening after the tab hasbeen placed around the wiper arm, said rounded head being blocked as itis larger than the diameter of said opening.
 9. A system according toclaim 1, in which said clipping means of the ticket medium comprise atab having a triangular head and two flat sections at its tip and aV-shaped slot enabling the insertion of said triangular head in saidslot after said tab has been placed around the wiper arm, and itslocking owing to said flat sections of the triangular head.
 10. A systemaccording to claim 8, in which said tab includes a frangible zone havingperforations enabling the ticket card to be separated from the tabremaining around the wiper arm by exerting a certain pulling force.